Congressman Charlie Dent, who represents part of Montgomery County, has just returned from the Gulf of Mexico. He says the people there believe BP must pay for the worst oil spill in American history, but they are also concerned about the impact the current offshore drilling moratorium will have on their economy.

“In the short term they’re talking 8,000 jobs on a six-month moratorium, but we’re talking more than 100,000 jobs that are going to be impacted by this. Truthfully, we’re just talking about too many people that are going to be put out of work as a result of this. The Gulf is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Now here we are with a government-imposed moratorium that will essentially exacerbate the economic problems that they’re experiencing there.”

If the oil companies can’t resume drilling soon, Dent says they will pull up their rigs and head for the Middle East and other parts of the world, taking American jobs with them. He appeared Wednesday on the WNPV talk program Comment Please by Univest.